Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Below is what I copied from Josh's 4wheeling site. Sorry it's taken so long to update this. Like normal things are pretty busy around here.

After some hassles from the California Doc's office, I finally got everything taken care of to start the new treatment. To keep this short, lets just say I had to make a few trips out there to get all the paperwork, tests, and scans done. I finally got my first treatment of the new drug last week.

I've been having the side pains again and I'm back on the pain killers (3 times a day). Today I met with my Tucson doc for my monthly exam. I showed him a new lump I found on the right side of my ribs near the lump I had found a month, or so, ago. This new lump felt harder like it was bone. He examined the area and said that there are actually 2 new lumps and he said it wasn't bone, but felt like they are attached to the ribs. He feels that they are tumors based on how they physically felt. Best thing we can do is hope that this new treatment will be effective in either getting rid of them, or keep them from growing. They are getting a little painful when I lay on my right side. Every once in a while it feels like needle pokes.

Next week I'm out there for 3 days because my scan is on Monday and my treatment is on Wednesday. It was more expensive for me to fly home and come back, so I'm just going to stay the extra day. Maybe I'll actually get out of the hotel room and drive down the street to the beach. I think I'm about a mile from the beach each time I go out there and I still haven't been down there. Either that or maybe I'll find one of those go-kart tracks and get a few laps in.

Then I'll be going out for day trips every other week after that. I'll have PET scans here and there that will require extra trips, but those should be more spread out. Maybe I should just move to California. I think I could rent a loft apartment for about what I pay for my mortgage here.

He left for CA Monday morning for the next round of treatments. Please pray that things will go better this time and that he'll have a safe trip. When he went out the first time he was told that he had done everything they needed him to do and that he could go home. After he flew home they told him they still needed him to do a few other things so his next trip out lasted longer than it was supposed to.

Having to go to CA so often now is becoming physically and financially draining. He's thinking about selling his "rock crawler" (technically I think it's called an FJ40 Land Cruiser) to help pay for his trips to CA. Please pray that everything will work out. Please pray that God will give him the strength and the money he needs to make these trips. If anyone knows someone in the Santa Monica area that might be willing to let Josh stay with them or help with transportation, please let use know. Thank you again for all your prayers and support! Please continue to pray that these treatments will work and that he will get some relief from the pain.